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explosion.

Chapter Three
    A Mimic Is an Awesome Thing to Waste
     
    I landed hard on the marble floor, sliding several feet before slamming into the security desk. My ears rang as I blinked to clear the stars from my vision.
    Next to me, Mick winced in pain, but rotated onto all fours. The knife had caught him just below the right collarbone. He shoved one of his hands against the wound, murmuring words I couldn’t hear, but the heat that pumped from his body signaled he was performing a Healing Spell.
    Smoke and debris filled the entrance while the shrill cries of the building’s alarm rattled inside my head. I wobbled upright, grasping the cracked security desk for support, and turned toward the entrance. Streetlights illuminated dozens of shadows as they burst through the haze into the building.
    The creatures were long with flaps of yellow, furry skin that hung from their bodies like the folds of a bloodhound. They had flat, featureless faces, scrawny arms and legs, and thin lips that curled back to reveal rows of sharp teeth. With the addition of high cheekbones and black-orb eyes that were set wide apart, the creatures had a freakish, humanoid appearance.
    They charged into the entrance on all fours like a pack of rabid hyenas.
    The majority skidded across the polished floor as they galloped down the hall, but three continued toward Mick and me at full speed. I drew the Glock, but the lead beast plowed into me before I could pull the trigger. The impact tossed me onto my back once more, knocking the gun from my hands.
    I expected the creature to attack, but instead it launched off of my chest and crashed into the guards at the security desk. The three of them collapsed into a heap of snarls and startled curses while a second beast pounced on me. It raked fingers across my chest, but the talonlike fingers caught in the webbing of the Kevlar. It jerked its hand in an effort to free itself while I reached beside me and snagged the Glock.
    As I turned back, however, I froze.
    Gone were the sallow, sickly features. Instead, I found myself staring at my mirror image, complete with my vest and holster. Mirror-Me cocked its head like a bird, sneered, then raised a fist full of claws overhead.
    Instinctively, I swung the Glock upward and pulled the trigger. The gun thundered and the hollow-point punched a large, bloody hole in the chest of my attacker. My other face contorted with pain as the area around the wound trembled. The outfit began melding together in both color and shape.
    The sight nauseated me, but I squeezed the trigger again. My hand bucked with the recoil and the creature fell off of me. It gasped while the “clothes” melted back into folds of sickly, yellow fur. The creature heaved once, then went still.
    I stared at the featureless face, horrified that my own had occupied the space seconds earlier.
    Someone cursed nearby. I spun, aiming the Glock in the direction of the sounds, but immediately released the pressure on the trigger when I saw Mick drive the knife into the eye of his own mirror image.
    The creature writhed in agony as the folds of skin relaxed. Mick jerked the blade out and the creature bucked, clawing at the gore pouring down its face. Its wail echoed down the long hallway, but the cries died quickly as the beast slumped to the floor. Mick, knife in one hand and pressing his own wound with the other, spat at the corpse.
    I took a step toward him, but ducked out of the way when the male guard flew backward over the desk.
    He struck the far wall, then slid to the ground. As he rose on unsteady feet, the blonde guard stood, reared back, and hurled one of the chairs at him. It sailed across the hall, knocking the man into the wall once more. He dropped to the floor again but this time he stayed down.
    “What the hell was th—” I started to ask, but the female guard leapt over the desk. She tackled me like a linebacker, driving me to the ground once more, then straddling me with her long,